Of Light and Darkness
by Omega19x
Summary: Ryou participates in a sacred ritual meant to dispel the darkness from his millennium ring, but the consequences are far more sinister than the darkness they sought to destroy. COMPLETE.
1. The Ritual of Purification

Insert Disclaimer here: I own no parts of Yu-Gi-Oh. In fact, after dressing as Ryou Bakura at A-Kon, I don't think I even own my own soul anymore. But I do own the soul of the emcee. I won it in a Shadow Game of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

:-:-

A white haired teen walked briskly through the rain. His hands trembled, tightly clutching the millennium ring. He ripped the gold spikes out of his chest with surprising strength.

Waves of pain rippled through his mind as he recalled the various instances where his yami had gotten the best of him. He felt his hand impaled on the poly-resin tower. He felt his body go numb from destroying the dice. He felt the knife stab through his left arm, and his muscles fall limp. He felt his legs be greedily consumed by the shadows. Eventually the pain centered in his chest, a lasting reminder of the day he first met Yugi and saw the millennium puzzle.

The blood on his chest had already started to dry.

The rain increased as Ryou approached what resembled an old temple. A crack of lightning struck the spire above him, followed by thunder shaking the ground below. Large wooden doors eventually creaked open, revealing Yami Yugi in the dark entryway.

"Are you ready?" he asked stoically. The millennium puzzle glistened in the candlelight, the only real indicator that anyone was physically there.

"Yes." Ryou answered with nearly steadfast determination. He pulled the millennium ring from around his neck, and let it dangle from his left hand. "I am ready. When can we begin?"

It had only been a week since he spoke with Isis and Malik. The former had mentioned a way to rid the ring of the thief king's wicked spirit, once and for all. And the more Ryou considered it, the more eager he was to send his dark side into the void of oblivion.

He was tired. Tired of being manipulated, of being a danger to his friends, and most importantly, he was tired of being a pawn in his yami's shadow games.

The pharaoh beckoned Ryou inside.

By the time his eyes could adjust to the darkness surrounding him, Isis had already emerged from the shadows.

"I knew you would come." She whispered, startling the young teen. The ring jangled at his side. "My brother is waiting for us inside."

Ryou gulped. The candlelight against her dark skin gave her features a demonic quality.

"Don't be frightened, Ryou." Yami Yugi whispered.

"I'm not frightened." He lied, feeling the weight of the ring double as his spirit thrashed violently from within it. In the back of his mind, he could hear his yami shouting curses at him. He tried his best to ignore them, lest he fall back on the promise he made to the pharaoh.

"This is a ritual of purification." Isis stated calmly, leading Ryou down a long stairway. "No force of darkness can stand up to its power."

"Malik recently translated the words necessary to invoke the incantation." Yami Yugi elaborated. "As soon as Isis realized what he had discovered, he contacted me. I instantly thought of you."

Ryou nodded weakly. His chest hurt.

The pharaoh knew Yami Bakura was listening. He could feel the spirit's fear. Some of it was no doubt rubbing off on his hikari.

"We have tried so many times to destroy the millennium ring." Yami Yugi sighed. "But no matter what we did, the ring would always return to you. Just like it did at Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, and here in Dominio a few months ago."

Again, Ryou nodded silently.

"But this time will be different."

"Yes, Ryou." Isis interrupted. "Your friends had good intentions, but they were approaching the problem from the wrong angle. The ring cannot be destroyed. But it can be cleansed."

"You mean, my yami will…"

"He will be purified." Yami Yugi answered. "Isis says it has worked well in the past."

The ring shook, as though the spirit inside was throwing himself against the walls, trying to break them apart.

"We used this ritual on Malik." Isis continued. "To rid him of whatever still remained of the evil spirit his soul created."

Ryou thought back to Battle City, and shuddered at the evil spirit that had sent his body, as well as his soul, into the shadow realm.

"The darkness was completely destroyed. Malik is safe."

"But what about you, pharaoh?" Ryou finally found his voice. "Have you…"

"I cleansed my own darkness, Ryou." Yami Yugi sighed, "Through my recent battle with Dartz, and the wicked Seal of Oricalkos."

"The pharaoh is not a prisoner to his dark side, and young Yugi is not burdened by it." Isis added. "With so many mysteries still unsolved within the millennium puzzle, I worry about subjecting the item to such a ritual. But with the ring…"

"This item has been tainted for three millennia." Yami Yugi announced. "The spirit inside was born of the darkness, from a thief's appetite for vengeance. He cannot overcome the darkness, because he is the darkness."

Again, the ring shook violently, the gold spikes clamoring against each other with powerful dissonance.

"You do wish to rid yourself of the darkness, correct?" Isis finally asked.

Ryou paused. He could hear his yami's shouts turn to pleading. The spirit was begging, cursing and begging.

"Yes." Ryou nodded, listening to Yami Bakura scream. He remembered everything that happened to his friends. He didn't want to go through with this, but the situation had left him little choice. He finally continued, "We have all suffered long enough."

Isis opened another door, leading Ryou and the pharaoh into a small chamber. Malik was already there, sitting on a small stone bench against the far wall. He glanced up when Ryou walked by.

"Isis said you would come."

"Thanks to you, I can finally be free of…" his voice trailed off as the ring swung towards Ryou on its own accord. The spikes missed him, much to Yami Bakura's dismay.

"I am only glad that I can help…" Malik continued, "after everything that happened back in Battle City… it is the least that I can do to make it up to you."

"I know it wasn't your fault." Ryou smiled. "You were possessed by the darkness."

Malik smiled back. There was an unspoken pact of forgiveness between the two teens.

"Pharaoh…" Malik finally spoke again. "It would be best if you could wait outside."

Yami Yugi nodded. The force of the ritual would be too strong for him to endure. He had arrived at the temple because Yugi wanted to see that Ryou was safe, but this is where his involvement had to stop.

"I will wait on the steps of the temple, Ryou." Yami Yugi smiled. "You can meet me there when the ritual is over."

He gave the white haired teen a gentle hug before climbing back up the winding staircase.

"Trust Isis." He added. "Her soul is good. Everything is going to be fine."

Ryou nodded again.

Ripples of emotions rose from the millennium ring, a potent tincture of anger and fear. It was just like Yami Yugi predicted. The tomb robber was actually afraid.

Again, Ryou pushed it to the back of his mind. He had to… if he didn't, he might not have the courage to go through with the purification ritual.

"Are you ready, Ryou?" Isis asked softly.

"Yes."

"Then place the millennium ring on the altar."

Ryou took the ring in both hands. Again, he could feel his yami's outbursts. They were so strong, that the ring literally vibrated in his hands. After a long sigh, he walked slowly to the front of the concave, and placed the ring on the stone altar. The sound of gold against the cold rock stung Ryou's heart.

He carefully backed away.

Isis whispered several Egyptian prayers as she lit a series of white candles on and around the altar. Ryou didn't understand any of the words, but from her actions, he guessed she was asking Ra for protection or guidance.

"What's happening?" he whispered to Malik.

"She is purifying her soul before the ritual." He answered. "As we both know, confrontations with spirits are dangerous. If an impure soul attempts this ritual, there is a chance that they would be possessed by the dark spirit, instead of driving it out."

Ryou trembled.

"Don't worry." Malik comforted him. "She is strong in the forces of light. Her ka will protect her."

Ryou watched Isis' as she burned a small piece of parchment, allowing the smoke to waft around her body like a spirit in its own right. She drew a deep cleansing breath, and turned back to face him.

"I am now ready." Her voice echoed, more serene than before.

"Isis…" Ryou interrupted the gentle echo.

"Yes?"

"Will… will there be anything left of my yami… when you're finished with the ritual?" he asked meekly.

Malik placed a hand over Ryou's shoulder.

"If there is any light in him, that will remain." The tomb keeper sighed. "Only the evil will be destroyed."

"But what if there is no light?"

"Then nothing will remain." Isis added, kneeling before the altar. She started chanting.

Malik joined her, echoing her Egyptian chant. Ryou simply stood in silence, listening to the voice of his yami echo in his head.


	2. The Light in the Ring

Inside his soul room, Yami Bakura's anger had melted into pure terror. Although he wasn't sure how he understood, he somehow knew those chants by heart. And with each word that fell from Isis' tongue, he could feel the life being choked within him.

"Ryou!" he shouted, clawing at the floor of the millennium ring.

The voices were growing. A second one had now joined in, echoing the first, and stealing the breath out of his staggering chest. He wasn't sure how he knew it, but he knew that he didn't have much time.

Yami Bakura pulled himself slowly to his feet. Already his legs felt like spiderwebs, helplessly fragile to the slightest touch. They could barely support his weight.

"Ryou! No!" he shouted, wondering if the teen could still hear him. He couldn't feel him. "Ryou! Stop this! Let me out of here!"

He struggled to take a breath.

"You insolent whelp!" he screamed, as loud as he could muster. "Let me out of here this instant!"

Again, there was no answer from his hikari. But the chanting voices were growing louder.

"Oh Ra…" he finally gasped. The pain was incredible. "Ryou! Stop!"

He could barely feel the light's presence. But it was there, faint, and in the background.

"Ryou!"

Panic-driven, Yami Bakura ran at the wall again, crashing into it with his right shoulder. He could feel the now brittle bones snapping against the gold as he fell back down in a twisted slump.

"Ryou! No! Oh Ra… Ryou!" he screamed, his free hand clutching the shattered shoulder. If this were any other time, he would have reacted with violent rage. But now, he knew he was outmatched. "Ryou!"

He trembled on the ground, trying to stand up again. But no matter how hard he willed himself, he couldn't pull his body up. Instead, his eyes glanced down. Blood was everywhere. Dark blood, tinged with a black so encompassing it could only be found in the shadow realm. There was no mistaking it. It was his blood.

"Ryou!"

Yami Bakura's left hand quivered as it moved along his face. There were cuts and scratches there. It didn't take long for him to notice that there were open wounds everywhere else as well. One for each soul he banished to the darkness. And a few more for the souls he only threatened.

"Ryou, stop! It burns!" he screamed, his agony bombarding the ring. The chanting continued, scraping through his mind like a desert sandstorm. "Oh Ra… stop it… stop this! I give up! I'll do anything!"

In the distance, the door to his soul room finally became visible. Of course, in his state, he wondered if it had always been visible, and he had just been too contorted to notice.

"Ryou! Open it!"

There was still no response from his hikari. But the chanting was growing faster, much faster.

"Ryou!" he threw his body over, listening to ribs buckle beneath his spine. He stretched his neck, watching a small trail of light peek under the soul room door.

He coughed as he screamed, a mouthful of blood spewing from his bowels. He didn't have much time left.

"Ryou, please!" he finally shouted, his commands turning to troubled pleading. But again, there was no response.

Yami Bakura slowly pushed his body forward, crawling against the cold floor. Each mere inch lasted an eternity, waves of anguish crashing down on his fragile body as it wasted away.

"Please! Stop!" he screamed. "I… I can't…"

His outstretched arm was nothing more than a white stick. A burned husk of a limb, scorched from the desert sun.

"I… I can't take… Ryou… Oh Ra… stop the pain… just… please…" he gasped. His chest was like an empty tomb, old air trapped and clinging to its walls. "Anything… stop the pain… Ryou… please…"

He pulled himself forward again. Blood was everywhere. His hair glistened a dark shade of pink. His eyes sunk back in his melting skull.

"Ryou…" he choked, finally collapsing on the ground.

The chanting continued, faster and faster. His heart pounded against his broken ribs with every beat of the Egyptian prayer, until he could literally feel it bursting.

"…Ryou…"

He shut his eyes, but all he could see was the light. The bright sun overwhelming all of his senses, until there wasn't any place that his mind could hide.

"… oh Ra…"

The light coiled like serpents around him, slithered through him, and bit into him. Its poison leaked through the holes in his skin, devouring everything it touched, and leaving something else to be devoured in its wake.

"Ryou… please…" he gasped, feeling nothing but pain, and knowing nothing but light.

The voices continued, still growing faster.

"please… aibou…" another spasm shook the ring, and his body with it.

The chanting wouldn't stop.

Ryou was there, wasn't he?

"No more…"

The light burned. It burned more than Yami Bakura could have imagined. His flesh was nothing but hot wax, slowly melting from a ceremonial candle.

"… Ra…"

The darkness. He would have given anything for the confines of the darkness. Anything for the shadow realm.

The voices kept chanting.

"…aibou…"

He couldn't move. There wasn't much left for him to move.

"… please…"

Just a few scattered thoughts, a few leftover emotions had yet to be seared away. A few strands of white hair scattered the ground, bursting into small coils of flame as the light reached them.

"… Ry…"

The voices stopped for a moment... And suddenly, there was nothing.


	3. Second Thoughts

Ryou looked up. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since they arrived. The ceremonial candles that Isis had lit when she began the ritual had burned to mere shells of their former selves.

Isis and Malik had stopped chanting. They simply stood before the altar, their heads bowed, wandering in the maze of a silent prayer.

"Is it… over?" Ryou cautiously began.

Slowly, Malik turned around. He nodded.

"It's done." He sighed. He was exhausted from the ordeal.

"Yes. It is done." Isis agreed, turning around as well. She looked as though she would faint. "Never before have I encountered such a spirit…"

Ryou stood silently, taking it all in.

"He fought back for the longest time." Malik added. "I was worried for a moment that we wouldn't be able to finish the ritual."

"But thankfully, the light we produced was stronger than his dark ka. And it left him completely vulnerable inside the ring." Isis continued. "After that, it was only a matter of time before the light consumed the yami."

Ryou stood silently, still trying to remember the last thing that he heard his yami say. He could feel his pain, up to a point. But it all grew steadily weaker, until eventually, he couldn't hear anything at all. He didn't feel his yami actually die… At least, he didn't think he did. It was rather like he just disappeared.

"You may take the ring if you wish." Isis smiled. "It is rightfully yours."

Ryou nodded, and walked solemnly up to the altar. He carefully placed his fingers over the gold. Isis was right. He couldn't feel anything inside of it. Not even a sliver of light residing within the dark item.

"He's completely gone, isn't he?"

Malik and Isis exchanged glances.

"The light devoured him whole." Isis finally responded. "There was nothing left."

"The ring is empty now…" Malik added. "And without the spirit inside it, its power is gone as well."

Ryou picked up the ring. It was cold to the touch. So cold, in fact, that Ryou nearly dropped it.

"You are free, Ryou Bakura." Isis placed a tender hand on his shoulder.

Ryou didn't look up. He was still studying the ring. For the first time, it felt like a simple piece of metal. But something inside his mind kept insisting that the ring couldn't have been powerless.

"You will no longer be burdened by the evil spirit of the millennium ring."

"Thank you." He finally replied, letting a weak smile escape his young face. He put the ring over his head, feeling the weight of the gold fall onto his chest.

He walked over to the stairway.

"Malik will lead you out." Isis smiled.

She thanked Ra that the ritual had gone smoothly. Although she didn't tell Ryou, there were still missing pieces of parchment that her team of archeologists had not uncovered. If something had gone wrong, there was no telling what might have happened.

"I must rest now…" She retired out another door, leaving the young tomb keeper with the former host of the tomb robber's spirit.

"Malik… I …" Ryou smiled, embracing his friend. The ring pressed between their bodies.

"Like I said before, it is the least that I could do." He replied. "After everything our spirits have caused, it is good to know that we can now move on with our lives."

Ryou nodded.

They started walking. Malik opened the wooden door, and started climbing the stone steps. Ryou followed silently behind him.

"Ryou?" he finally asked. "Is something wrong?"

The white haired teen was shaken out of his thoughts.

"Oh… nothing…"

"No… what?"

Ryou sighed. He ran his fingers across the ring, and leaned against a wall.

"I could hear him screaming… when he was dying…" Ryou crossed his arms at his waist. "Screaming… shouting… crying… It was too much to bear…"

"That is what light does to darkness." Malik answered. "It is natural."

"He was begging… begging for me to stop you."

"Did you really expect anything different?" Malik replied with a question of his own.

"No… not really… but it hurt… to hear him pleading for his life…"

They started walking again.

"Well, let me ask you this… If you did stop us, and the tomb robber survived, do you think his actions would change? Do you think that in three months time, he wouldn't be taking control of your body, risking your life or Yugi's life just to collect another millennium item?"

Ryou paused again.

"Do you think anything would have changed?"

"…No… I guess not…" Ryou finally admitted. He hoped that it might, but deep down, he knew that wasn't the case.

"We did the right thing, Ryou." Malik put his arm around the other boy.

"You're right." He eventually sighed, as they reached the top of the stairway.

Yami Yugi was still sitting on the steps outside. They could easily see his unusually shaped hair from the open door.

"Pharaoh! It's done!" Malik shouted, his voice echoing in the dark entryway.

Yami Yugi turned around.

"That took three hours." He stated with surprise. His chest hurt a little, but he shrugged it off.

"It was a difficult battle." Malik replied. "I had to join in just to support my sister."

Yami Yugi gave a glance of concern to Ryou, who was still clutching the millennium ring.

"But was it successful?"

"Yes."

"The tomb robber?"

"His soul was completely devoured by the light." Malik answered confidently. "After the ritual was over, there was nothing left of the spirit."

Malik's words suddenly felt as cold as the pendant in his hands.

"How do you feel, Ryou?" Yami Yugi asked gently, also placing a hand on the boy.

"I… I feel… strange…" he finally spoke.

"That's to be expected. It has been a long time since it was just you inside your soul." Yami Yugi attempted a comforting smile, but it was apparently lost on Ryou, who remained fixated on the ring.

"If you don't mind… I… I think I'd like to go home now…"

He turned away from Malik, and walked towards the door.

"At least let me walk with you." Yami Yugi suggested. "You seem tired from the ritual as well."

Ryou stopped. For the first time, he noticed how exhausted he actually was. He had been standing in the center of that sanctuary for the better part of three hours. Of course he would be tired.

He nodded appreciatively to the pharaoh, who returned his gaze to Malik.

"Give our gratitude to Isis as well." He smiled.

"Of course, pharaoh." Malik smiled back, and closed the door. Ryou and Yami Yugi walked slowly down the front steps.

The rain had stopped not long ago, probably around the same time that Yami Bakura had finally been destroyed. The scent of the fresh air still clung to Yami Yugi's senses. It was a sensation he didn't have that often in Ancient Egypt, and therefore one that he cherished.

"Pharaoh?" Ryou finally asked, after a good five minutes of walking.

"Yes?"

"I… I was wondering… do you think we made the right choice?"

Yami Yugi was a bit taken aback by that question.

"Are you having second thoughts about…"

"No… it's just… well…" Ryou attempted to gather his thoughts. "I guess I miss him a little, that's all…"

Yami Yugi smiled.

"It's going to feel strange for a little while, that's for certain. But in the end, you made the best choice." He tried to comfort the other boy. "Now he can't hurt you or anybody else."

"It's just…" Ryou inserted. "I guess I thought there would be something left of him… after the ritual was done…"

"Something left?"

"Malik said that only the darkness would be destroyed. That if there was any light in his soul… that it would remain…"

"And you thought that…"

"There would be some good in him, pharaoh… I didn't think he could have been completely evil… Not like the spirit that embodied Malik."

The pharaoh didn't have a ready response for that.

"But there's nothing in the ring now."

Yami Yugi picked up the millennium ring, and studied it for a moment. Ryou was right. There was no sense of anything hiding within the ring. Nor did it seem to activate when he held it close to his millennium puzzle.

"No… there isn't."

"Then he really is gone."

Yami Yugi nodded.

They approached a junction in the road, where they had already planned to go their separate ways.

"You're sure you're going to be all right." Yami Yugi asked the white haired boy, who still seemed lost in his own thoughts.

"Yeah." Ryou replied sheepishly. "I'll be fine. I just need a little time to think."

"If you need anything, anything at all, call Yugi." The pharaoh smiled. "He, and I, will be there in an instant."

"I know." Ryou nodded, smiling a little. He turned at the corner, and started walking towards his apartment building. Yami Yugi turned the opposite direction, towards his hikari's home and game shop. The pharaoh turned around to check on Ryou one last time, but the boy was completely lost in his thoughts.

And Ryou would have reached his apartment without ever breaking out of those thoughts if he hadn't accidentally tripped over something in the nearby alleyway.

As he stumbled to catch his footing, he looked down to see what had caused him to trip. There was a body there.

"… oh Ra…" he mumbled, sounding very much like his yami for a moment. "Ph…pharaoh…"

He turned around quickly. The other yami was already a good block away.

"Pharaoh!" he shouted, and then fell back against the curb, trembling.


	4. The body of the Thief

"Ryou! Ryou, what's wrong?" Yami Yugi shouted, racing back across the street to where Ryou had just fallen. "Are you okay?"

He helped Ryou stand up, not even looking into the alley at first.

"What happened?" he asked again, sensing only fear in the other boy.

Ryou tried to speak, but found his words packed tightly in his throat. Instead, he just pointed, mouth agape, into the dark alley.

Yami Yugi gasped.

It was a body, broken, battered, bleeding, and most likely dead. It was a sight gruesome enough to make even the strong pharaoh's knees give way. But what was most frightening was that it looked exactly like Yami Bakura, down to the last detail.

"… it can't be…"

Ryou, still paralyzed with shock, stared at the body. It had to be. Although the clothes were shredded and soaked with blood, anyone could tell that the striped t-shirt and grey pants were an exact match to what Ryou had been wearing. The pale skin and white hair were almost enough of an identifying factor on their own. But this wasn't a spirit… this was a flesh and blood human being!

"Tomb robber…" Yami Yugi gasped, and bent down. He lifted the frail arm that Ryou had first tripped over. It was nothing but scarred skin and bones.

As he examined the body more closely, the pharaoh realized that wasn't an anomaly. The rest of the body was equally emaciated.

"Oh my Ra…" he gasped again, brushing the tangled mess of white hair away from the face of the fallen man. His cheeks were sunken like a badly preserved mummy, and several cuts on his face were still bleeding.

"Pharaoh…" Ryou finally found his voice. "L…look at that…"

He pointed timidly to a gold light glistening from underneath the body. Yami Yugi reached around the figure's neck, pulling out a leather strap. As he followed it, he found another copy of the millennium ring.

"…that's… impossible…" he stuttered, dropping the other ring back onto the pavement. It clattered to the ground with a haunting melody. There was no question in anyone's mind now. This was Yami Bakura. But how…

"Yami?" Ryou whispered, trying to control the terror that was curling up his spine. "Pharaoh… what's… what's going on here?"

"I… I don't know…" Yami Yugi answered. He was destroyed in the ritual, and yet, here he was, as solid as him or Ryou. He turned Yami Bakura's body slightly, and heard a weak groan.

Yami Yugi froze.

"He's not dead." He whispered, his voice barely above a faint gasp.

Ryou dropped to his knees, and crawled quickly to the body. He felt for a pulse. The pharaoh was right. There was one, albeit weak and staggered. His yami was still alive.

"Yami?" Ryou whispered, but received no response. He pressed his hand gently on the former spirit's chest. Only then did a weak moan escape the man's lips, a meager attempt at showing signs of life. "Pharaoh, we have to do something!"

Yami Yugi nodded.

His hikari had often said that the healers in this time period were powerful, but this time, he doubted it would be a good idea to get them involved. How exactly, in a time where magic was believed to be merely superstition, could he explain that this broken body, with no identification or proof of existence, was the other half of Ryou's soul that somehow survived an exorcism meant to kill him completely. They would find themselves locked up for sure, one way or another.

"I don't think there's much that we can do." Yami Yugi eventually admitted. The body was ravaged, like he crawled out one of those wicked camps his hikari read about two days ago. Blood was everywhere, and it was still fresh. "He's… I've never seen anything like this in my entire life…"

"We can't just leave him here on the street." Ryou protested.

"No, you're right. We can't…" Yami Yugi paused. He looked up. Ryou's apartment was only a couple blocks away. "Ryou. You're apartment is the closest place we can take him. Once we get there, I can go find Malik and Isis. Maybe they'll know what to do."

Ryou nodded, and swallowed hard.

Yami Yugi carefully bent down, and carefully lifted Yami Bakura's head. The former spirit groaned, and a trickle of blood ran out the side of his lips. He cradled it gently for a minute, trying to determine if his neck was broken. Everything was so fragile, he couldn't tell for sure. But they hardly had time for certainty.

"Be careful…" Ryou whispered.

"I am…" the pharaoh gently answered. He folded Yami Bakura's spiderlike arms across his sunken chest. Upon hearing no disapproval from Ryou or the former spirit, he slid his other hand under Yami Bakura's thin legs, and picked him up off the ground.

Yami Yugi steadied himself, while Ryou tended to the spirit in his arms. The pharaoh couldn't help dwelling on how frail the tomb robber's body seemed. A stark contrast to anything he could remember about the spirit of the millennium ring, it was so light, so insubstantial. No human could survive like this.

"Let's go." Yami Yugi announced, carrying Yami Bakura much like a child. They walked as briskly as they could, trying not to injure the former spirit any further.

They reached Ryou's apartment not a moment too soon. The extra attention warranted by an obviously dying man was not what either of them needed.

Yami Yugi carried Bakura up eight flights of back stairs, and Ryou quickly unlocked the door to his apartment and turned on a light. The rooms looked so clean and sterile, adding extra emphasis to the blood that was now dripping from the former spirit's back and Yami Yugi's leather pants.

"Can you put him on the couch?" Ryou asked, throwing various throw pillows off the cushions to make more room. Yami Yugi nodded, and gently laid the tomb robber across the young teen's sofa.

"Ryou… stay with him…" the pharaoh took a quick breath. "I'll be back soon, with Isis and Malik."

The other boy nodded, and knelt beside his yami. Now, in the full light of Ryou's apartment, the injuries looked even more severe. The contours of his impossibly thin face created their own sharpened shadows. He was so engrossed in the sight before him, he didn't even hear his front door close behind Yami Yugi.

"Yami?" he finally whispered. "Can you hear me?"

The spirit on the couch made no response. Ryou leaned in close, just to check if he was still breathing. It was slow, but Ryou sighed in relief that he still was.

"Yami, I…" Ryou's voice was overcome by guilt. "I should have stopped them…"

His mind lingered between the two options for what felt like a lifetime. On the one hand, he had to stop the rampage of the wicked spirit, one way or another. If not, sooner or later, he would have surely died at his yami's hands. Or worse, someone he cared about might have. But on the other, if this were the product of that bizarre ritual, he would have found another way somehow. It pained Ryou to see his other half, even his darker half, like this.

No matter how much convincing the pharaoh managed to do… it still didn't seem right.

"I'm sorry, Yami…" Ryou started to cry. He laid his head gently on the former spirit's chest, letting a few tears wash over one of the dried bloodstains.

Yami Bakura answered with a sharp moan, followed by a series of choking coughs. Ryou quickly lifted his head.

"Sorry!" he gasped, and backed away. Yami Bakura gasped for breath.

Slowly, Ryou crept back up to his other self, and tilted his head.

"There… that should help you breathe a little better…" he whispered to the man on the couch, trying to feign a smile.

Yami Bakura painfully opened his eyes. He wanted nothing more to find the source of that soothing voice. To Bakura, Ryou's face was nothing but a white blur above him, but at least he saw something other than darkness. And this time, the light didn't burn. Or was it still burning, and he had finally lost the ability to process it?

"Yami?" Ryou whispered again, noticing that the former spirit was awake. "The pharaoh's gone to get help. He'll be back soon. Just… just try to hold on, okay?"

Yami Bakura couldn't make an acknowledgment if he wanted to. His body was too weak to move on its own, and there wasn't an ounce of Ra's will that could force it to. If there were, he would have stolen it a long time ago.

"… Ry…ou…" the broken spirit finally gasped, letting another mouthful of blood run down the side of his chin.

"Yes. It's me. Ryou. I'm here." The white haired teen answered quickly, reaching for Bakura's hand. It trembled as he clasped it gently, trying not to break the slender fingers as he closed his grip. Seeing the spirit's face contort in pain, he switched to massaging the frail hand, trying not to show disgust as his soft fingers ran over each protruding bone. "I'm here."

"… Ryou…" Yami Bakura moaned.

"I'm right here…"

"… aibou… no…" he groaned again. "st… stop… p..plea… please… stop…"

Ryou let go of his hand, and let it fall off the side of the couch.

"It… it burns…" he choked, his body shaking with an uneasy spasm.

"The light? Is it too bright?" Ryou jumped up, and dimmed the overhead lights. "Is that better?"

"… aibou…"

"Yami?" Ryou asked, now growing quite afraid. "Yami, the pharaoh will be here soon! I… I don't know what to do…"

"… pain… st…stop the… pain… the… the chanting…"

Ryou froze. The chanting from the ritual?

"They stopped chanting, Yami… they stopped chanting!" Ryou shook his yami gently. "Nobody's chanting!"

"…chanting…" he squinted his eyes in agony. "st…stop the voices… aibou… tell them… ple…please…"

He coughed again, trembling as another spasm rocked his emaciated body.

"The ritual's over, yami!" Ryou shouted. "Listen to me! It's over!"

"Please… Ry… Ryou…"

"It's over! There is no more chanting!" he shouted again, but Yami Bakura didn't seem to hear him. "I'm sorry it ever started! Yami! Please… I'm sorry I ever started it!"

"… aibou…"

"I'm sorry!" Ryou's screams gave way to tears, and he threw his head down onto what remained of the middle couch cushion. "I should have stopped them!"

"… stop the… pain…"

"I don't know how!" Ryou cried, frustrated and confused.

"… aibou… can… you hear… me…"

Ryou finally looked up, tears streaming down his face.

"Yami?" he whispered. "I'm right here."

"… aibou… please… I… Ryou…"

Ryou leaned directly into Yami Bakura's line of vision. Could his yami not see him? Could he not hear him?

"Yami?"

He carefully placed the back of his hand against Yami Bakura's forehead. It was like touching a hot stove, and Ryou leapt back, clutching his hand protectively.

"oh… Ra… aibou…"

"Dear, Gods… he's burning up…" Ryou gasped. "And he's completely delirious…"

"… light… there's… there's so much… light…"

He gulped, dashing towards the bathroom to get a washcloth. If anything, maybe he could keep the fever from rising.

"Yami! Please hang on!" Ryou shouted as he ran. His emotions surprised even him. He could not have imagined these words sounding so forceful, at least, not before today. "Please! Yami! Just don't leave me!"

"… aibou… for…forgive me… for ev…rythin…g…"

"Don't leave me!"


	5. So this is the Face of Goodness

Yami Yugi burst through the door to find Ryou sitting on the floor. He had just taken a dry washcloth off his yami's forehead, and dipped it into a bucket filled with ice water. He rang it out a little, and then put it back. The movement caused Yami Bakura to tremble.

"Ryou, I'm back!" Yami Yugi shouted, followed quickly by Malik and Isis. "How's Bakura?"

Ryou slowly stood up.

"He was awake for a little while… but… he passed out…" Ryou attempted to say more, but found himself unable to continue talking. He sat back down, and checked on the washcloth again.

Malik stepped out from behind the pharaoh, staring at the emaciated form of Yami Bakura.

"Oh my Ra…" Malik felt his legs turn to liquid beneath him. He staggered back into the pharaoh.

"This cannot be…" Isis gasped as well. "This… this is not part of the ritual…"

Ryou looked up.

"Then what could have caused this?" the pharaoh asked, almost demanding.

"I do not know for sure, but I have a few vague ideas…" Isis eventually whispered, still trying to gain a complete grasp of the situation. In the meantime, Malik had dropped to the floor next to Ryou.

"Is it really…"

"He had the millennium ring and everything, Malik…" Ryou answered. "Who else could it be?"

"But he's so…" Malik stopped. Ryou could easily fill in the gaps – Weak. Powerless. Broken. Emaciated. Close to death. It didn't really matter.

"I know…"

"Pharaoh… he was such a strong spirit…" Isis finally answered. "It is possible, I suppose, for his will to survive to be stronger than the ritual itself. Or perhaps it is the light in his soul, having nowhere else to go, inventing a physical form for it to inhabit…"

"You mean, he escaped the ring?" Ryou asked.

"I suppose…"

"But sister… the ritual was complete! You felt it. I felt it." Malik interrupted. "We destroyed the darkness. Nothing could survive."

"Malik. The ritual only destroys the darkness." Isis disputed her brother's claim. "If anything was able to escape from the ring, it would be light. It would be the goodness inside the spirit."

Ryou froze. He stared for what felt like hours at his yami's face.

"I knew there was good in him…" he smiled. "I knew he wasn't completely evil!"

"But look at the spirit of the millennium ring now, Isis..." Malik interrupted Ryou's first pleasurable thought all day. "What goodness he might have possessed is not enough to sustain him in this realm."

Ryou's hopes fell.

"No, I suppose not." She nodded her assent.

"But…"

She bent down to examine the former spirit.

"He's dying." She continued, her tone never changing. She turned to leave.

"Is… is that all you can say?" Ryou suddenly demanded. "The pharaoh brought you over here just to tell me he's dying, and leave!"

"I'm sorry, Ryou." Isis placed an arm around him. "But what's been done has been done. The ritual was complete. At least he is free to pass on in goodness. His soul will be well received on the scales of judgment. I know it is only a meager consolation… but I hope you can find…"

"No." Ryou interrupted. "The ritual's not over!"

"Ryou, I know this has to be difficult to accept… but…" Malik attempted to intercede.

"No. It's not over!" Ryou glared at the two tomb keepers with a wicked glare. "In his mind, it's not over!"

"What are you talking about?"

"While you were gone… while he was awake…" Ryou tried to calm himself down, but found the anger swell within him. "He… he could still hear you chanting… he could still see the light… He kept asking me to make it stop…"

"He's delirious with fever." Yami Yugi tried to reason with Ryou. "His body is dying. He can't control what he sees and hears anymore."

Ryou didn't want to believe them, any of them. But he knew, deep down, that they were speaking the truth. Over the course of the hour, his yami's breathing had grown shallower. His heartbeat was faint, almost non-existent. The mortal body he had inhabited for only a few hours was slowly breaking down.

"He… he called me aibou…" Ryou finally added, another tear falling gracefully from his pale cheek. "He begged me… to make it stop… Just like he did… while you were chanting… What if part of him is still there? I can't just leave him now… not after everything I did…"

"Ryou…" Malik whispered. They had been through this before, but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to be repetitive. "You can't blame yourself. You did what was best for…"

"Malik's right." Yami Yugi added, interrupting the tomb keeper. "No one could have foreseen this, not even Isis. This was never meant to happen."

"But it did." Ryou confronted them all. "It did happen."

No one knew what to say.

"He fought so hard to survive… and this is how it ends?" Ryou shouted. "I can't let it end like this! I… can't… I can't do that to my other half!"

Isis bent over Yami Bakura, and whispered a few prayers in Egyptian. Upon hearing them, Malik reluctantly joined in.

"His soul is very weak, Ryou." She finally spoke. "He… he only has a couple of hours left, at best…"

The white haired teen refused to acknowledge her.

"Try to keep him comfortable if you can." She smiled weakly. "Talk to him. Give yourself a little time to say goodbye."

"But there has to be some way to help him…" Ryou continued to protest. "Pharaoh?"

"I… I don't know of anything, Ryou." Yami Yugi sadly shook his head. He knew a great deal of shadow magic, but nothing that could even come close to saving his nemesis now. "And the ritual Isis performed today… that is one of the strongest spells I know of… And I knew many powerful priests and magicians."

Ryou wiped his eyes dry, and leaned back against the couch, watching his yami's sunken chest rise and fall ever so slightly. His breathing was even more labored than before.

"If you like, we could leave you two alone for awhile." The pharaoh finally spoke again. Ryou gave no verbal response. He only nodded.

The other three walked into Ryou's gaming room, and carefully closed the door, leaving Ryou alone with his dark half.


	6. Apologies and Regrets

The silence of the apartment was deafening. A clock on Ryou's fireplace ticked one more second of Yami Bakura's new life away. A cricket chirped from under a nearby chair. The jagged hiss of his yami's ragged breath was enough to make his own heart stop beating.

He ran his hand along Yami Bakura's chest, feeling the unnatural contours of each rib. But he kept stroking, as if his yami could derive at least a little pleasure from human contact.

"Yami… can you hear me?"

The former spirit gave no reply. He was lost, far and deep within the realm of unconsciousness. Ryou hoped the darkness was comforting, after all that his yami had been through in the past day.

"Yami… I… I'm sorry…" Ryou began, no longer caring if his yami could hear him or not. "I'm sorry that I tried to destroy you… I… I guess I'm no better than you… sending my friends into comas when we played Monster World together… I worked so hard to stop you, and now… I did the exact same thing… when I saw an open opportunity… I did the exact same thing…"

He stroked Yami Bakura's chest again, laying his head close by.

"I shouldn't have ever had Isis begin that ritual…" Ryou sighed. "It was wrong… It was wrong to destroy the darkness… even if it was darkness… It's like what Yugi told me about Dartz. He did the same thing… he wanted to destroy the darkness… and where did it get him? He became twisted in the very thing he wanted to destroy…"

A small pool of tears formed on the cushion.

"I'm no better…" Ryou sighed. "I'm no better than you during Duelist Kingdom… or Yami Yugi when he tried to use that wretched Seal of Oricalkos… I'm… I'm sorry for everything, Yami…"

He sighed.

"If there was something I could do… anything… to take it all back, I would. If there were some way I could stop the pain… I would… Yami, please… I would…"

Now, it was Ryou who was pleading.

"Just… please don't leave me, Yami…"

"… ai… aibou…"

Ryou jumped up. His yami was awake again.

"Yami! I'm here!" he shouted, grabbing the former spirit's hand so tightly that some of the tiny bones actually shattered. "Yami… please…stay with me…"

"I… I'm… sor…sorry… for…" Yami Bakura coughed, literally gasping for breath. It was as though he had been saving his energy for the past hour just to attempt one line of speech. "…for… hur…t… hurting… you…"

"It's okay, Yami… really… It's okay…" Ryou cried. "I know you didn't mean it… you were just… angry… with the pharaoh… that's all… I know you didn't…"

"No… I… Isis… right…" He tried to speak, but each word was more painful to form than the last.

"No! Isis is not right!" Ryou shouted. "I won't believe her!"

"Ry…Ryou… I am… the dar…darkness… and…" he fell back into the void of unconsciousness. Ryou shook him gently.

"That's right… Yami! The darkness never dies!" Ryou screamed, still shaking the unmoving form on his sofa. "The darkness never dies, Yami! You can't die! Please… Yami…"

Finally, Ryou stopped shaking him.

"Yami?"

There was no response. Was he still breathing? Ryou couldn't tell.

"The darkness never dies…" Ryou repeated to himself, over and over again. "The darkness… it never dies… oh Yami… please… I don't care how dark you are… You're not supposed to die… the darkness… never dies… please… come back…"


	7. The Strength of Darkness

Yami Yugi watched from the end of the hallway. The sound of Ryou's tears pained him more than he was willing to admit.

This was his eternal nemesis that was dying on the couch. The tomb robber that desecrated his father's final resting place, that brutally murdered his temple priests, and that nearly destroyed him as well, until they were both sealed into the millennium items. It was a grudge they both held for countless centuries, millennia even. And suddenly, the pharaoh felt a pang of regret surface from deep within the puzzle.

"Poor Ryou…" Malik whispered from behind the pharaoh. He had known the white haired teen only a little while. And he was already surprised how forgiving the young man could be. After everything that happened, he was still more than willing to befriend Malik.

Even Isis was starting to feel sympathy for Ryou and his yami, although she still felt she had done a good deed in the long run. It was all so simple, she thought to herself. Of course, where spirits are concerned, things are never as simple as they seem.

"He's been through so much…" Yami Yugi sighed. "And we can't even comfort him…"

Again he felt the pang of regret, except this time, it was much more powerful. So much so, he nearly fell backwards under its sudden thrust.

"Pharaoh, are you all right?" Isis jumped up from a chair by Ryou's Monster World board, and rushed to Yami Yugi's side. He clutched the puzzle in one hand, and his chest in another.

"I… I'm not sure… I don't know what just happened. I just felt… a little faint…" He gasped. He looked over to where Isis was sitting. "But you… you dropped something…"

She looked over her shoulder. A box of figurines had fallen from the game table. She must have hit them when she leapt forward. Malik walked back in the room to pick them up. He didn't recognize any of the characters, except for one that looked an awful lot like Ryou.

"He did a good job on these." Malik finally whispered, as Isis was helping the pharaoh to a chair in case he felt faint again.

Yami Yugi looked over. He remembered the White Wizard Bakura figure from before.

"He did indeed." The pharaoh smiled. "That one gave its life for its game master."

Malik put the figures back in the box.

"What do you mean?"

"When my hikari and his friends first came over to play Monster World, Yami Bakura managed to seal our souls into miniatures. My aibou managed to pull that n.p.c. out of Zorc's left arm. And Bakura was able to use that character to help us defeat his yami."

Yami Yugi looked at the board. Not much had changed over the years. There was still some dried blood left on Zorc's castle.

"He sealed you into the figurines?" Malik asked.

Yami Yugi nodded.

"He was able to seal a soul, any soul, into anything." He explained. "He even sealed his soul into a pair of dice."

"Then how'd you finally defeat him?"

"By defeating his avatar in the game." Yami Yugi continued. "Of course, he came back later, as long as part of his soul remained sealed in something. Eventually it found its way back into the ring from the shadow realm, and his power grew again…"

Yami Yugi gripped his chest, which suddenly hurt a great deal.

"That's why we finally turned to the ritual… to expel the evil spirit for good… so he couldn't keep coming back…"

Isis nodded.

"And it was the right choice…" she insisted. "The spirit of the millennium ring has no conscience. There is no telling what he would have done next."

"I know…" Yami Yugi sighed. "But Ryou…"

"Sister… I have a question…" Malik finally broke his silence.

"Yes?"

"Would the ritual still have worked if Bakura did not have complete control over his soul? As in… what if he already sealed part of his soul somewhere else before we even began?"

Suddenly Isis froze.

"I… I do not know." She paused for a moment. She tried to quickly explain away what seemed like such a valid question. "But that is an ability based completely in darkness. It cannot explain his human form outside of the ring."

"But what if there is more than one piece of his soul… what if… and Yami Bakura must have done this many times in order to survive as long as he has, given what happened in the Battle City finals… What if several other pieces of his soul exist, in a pair of dice, or in a lead figurine… or something else?"

"When his current form is destroyed, it will come back!" Yami Yugi gasped. "Somehow… it will always revert back to the ring!"

"His will to survive is stronger than I thought…" Isis whispered.

"Then the ritual may not have been complete…" Malik added.

"No… perhaps not…" Isis gasped. "But that would mean…"

They looked up, and at each other instantly.

"Ryou might have been right!"


	8. One Death begets Another

Malik was the first out into the living room.

"Ryou!" he shouted, skidding to a stop before he ran into the couch containing the fallen form of Yami Bakura. "Ryou, we just…"

He suddenly looked down. The white haired teen didn't look up. He didn't even acknowledge Malik's presence.

"Ryou?"

The boy's entire body was shaking, trembling with desperation. Tears clung to the sides of his eyes, trying not to fall into the shadows beneath his chin. His hands clutched onto a matted lock of his yami's bloodstained hair, as though releasing it would cause him to loose his own soul into a maze of unrelenting despair.

"Ryou?" Malik repeated again.

"He's dead." Ryou whispered, his breath heavy.

Isis walked up slowly beside Malik.

"Ryou, we thought of…"

"He's dead…" Ryou repeated louder. "You win… You all win… he's not coming back."

Silently, and with a hollow sigh, Ryou stood up. A pair of tears made their escape down his pale cheeks, carving tiny new rivers through the white desert. He wiped his red hands across a shirt that was already stained with his yami's blood. And gently, he closed his yami's eyes.

"I hope you're happy." Ryou finally whispered. "You've saved the world."

Malik and Isis stared at the young man, barely holding on to his own grief.

"It's just like they always say, right? The good of the many outweighs the good of the one?" Ryou attempted to laugh, but choked on his tears instead. "I guess that maxim's truer than the one about the darkness never dying…"

His hands shook as he tried to wrap them around his body.

"I got what I always wanted…" he bowed his head. "I guess I should be grateful…"

"Ryou, please… we need to talk." Malik attempted to insert.

"What for?" he finally stared the tomb keeper in the eyes. "He's dead! Isn't that enough for you?"

"That's not what you wanted." Isis sighed. "Was it…"

"It's certainly not what I wanted…" Malik attempted to intervene.

"Isn't it? This is what your ritual did to him!" Ryou shouted, pointing angrily at the corpse resting so peacefully on the couch. "This is what you did!"

"Ryou… that was a ritual of light!"

"That doesn't look like light to me!" he shouted back. "A ritual of goodness wouldn't leave a man, even an evil man, as a withered, broken shell! A ritual of goodness wouldn't starve a spirit, even a guilty one, until it had nothing left inside!"

"Ryou, please…"

"Don't 'Ryou, please' me!" he demanded, glaring with an almost sadistic tremor. "Malik's darker half was the embodiment of darkness, not mine. His was created out of hatred, resentment… mine… my yami was a human being!"

Isis trembled where she stood.

"A wicked, destructive human being. But a person! With thoughts, memories, feelings. With needs, desires… fears…" Tears streamed freely down Ryou's face, splattering messily onto the deceased yami down below. "And you killed him."

Ryou's fists quaked.

"You killed him!"

"Ryou, we were just doing what you…"

"You wanted so badly to destroy the darkness, look what you did…" Ryou sunk back to his knees, his cheek falling on Yami Bakura's lifeless chest. He looked up. "Look at him, Isis! Look at him, Malik!"

They complied, quickly returning their gaze to Ryou, lest he strike out at them in rage.

"Does this look like a threat to you?"

"Ryou…"

"No! It doesn't…" he slumped. "Pharaoh, why not come and see your thief king now?"

For the first time, Malik and Isis realized that Yami Yugi hadn't followed them out of the game room.

"What's the matter, pharaoh?" Ryou laughed nervously to himself as he cried. "Sphinx got your tongue?"

"Pharaoh?" Malik turned around. "Where are you?"

Isis turned back towards the game room, leaving Ryou with the body of Yami Bakura.

"Pharaoh?"

She pushed open the door, only to find Yami Yugi unconscious on the floor, the millennium puzzle literally rattling against the wood.

"Oh my… Malik! Come here! Hurry!"

The sharp change in her voice drew Ryou from his resentment. Something must have been very wrong for her calm demeanor to suddenly fall apart.

Malik rushed back into the game room, stopping dead in the doorway.

"Isis, what's going on in…" he froze. "Pharaoh!"

Malik bent down, and lifted the yami's head and shoulders into his lap. He shook the man gently, but could elicit no response.

"Pharaoh!"

Ryou approached the doorway with a gasp.

"Pharaoh?" Not you too!" he shouted, shaking the yami as furiously as Malik had just done. "Please, not you too!"

"Let go of him, Ryou! Please!" Isis tried to pull the white haired youth away from Yami Yugi, but his hysterics couldn't be broken.

"First my yami… and now Yugi's?" he shrieked.

"Calm down!" she shouted, her voice rattling the figurines stacked neatly on the edge of the game table. "Everybody wait!"

They stopped.

"I don't think there's anything physically wrong with the pharaoh!"

"The what's going on?" Malik demanded a quick answer.

"I think there's something wrong with the puzzle!"

Their eyes traced the chain around Yami Yugi's neck, the millennium puzzle still rattling and pulsating with every erratic beat of his heart. Small beads of light could be seen from between the cracks, expanding ever since Ryou had entered the room.

"The puzzle?" he whispered, turning to Malik. "But what…"

"Pharaoh!" Malik shook him again. "Pharaoh, can you hear me?"

Again, there was no response, other than the puzzle's dramatic seizures.

"It's no use, Malik…" Isis stepped back, and crossed her arms. "He's deep inside his soul room. Along with Yugi."

"But why?"

"I don't know…" she responded. "But something's definitely going on in there."

"Pharaoh?" Ryou whispered, now clutching the other yami's hand.

"And if it keeps up…" she sighed. "I think that puzzle is going to shatter."


	9. The Light in the Puzzle

Inside the puzzle, Yugi felt the ground quake. The tremors swept his spirit off its feet, sending him crashing through the door into his yami's portion of the soul. At the same time, the pharaoh had been running towards that very door, a desperate attempt to reach his hikari.

"Yami! What's going on?" Yugi gasped, his shoulders aching from tumbling down a flight of stone stairs.

"I… I don't know, aibou!" Yami Yugi shouted back. He tried to stand, but the shaking sent him flying backwards into another wall. He cringed as the stone met his spine with a loud crack. "Something's wrong with the millennium puzzle!"

"I guessed that much, yami!" Yugi added, trying to stand. He again found the challenge too difficult. "But if you're here, why aren't I in control of the body!"

"I don't know, aibou!" the pharaoh shouted again, a little more frustrated than before.

A crack of light ran through the ceiling, or perhaps floor, above them. The pharaoh, acting on his reflexes, quickly pushed his hikari out of harm's way before a thick piece of stone crashed onto them below.

"The puzzle's acting like it's going to fall apart!" Yami Yugi gasped.

"Can it do that?"

"I don't know that either!" he exclaimed, "But that's exactly what it looks like!"

"But why?"

"That's what we have to find out!" Yami Yugi grabbed his hikari's hand, and pulled him towards another door. "Hurry, before there isn't anywhere left for us to go!"

"Where are we going?"

"Deeper into the puzzle." The pharaoh would have elaborated, were it not for the floor crumbling beneath him. His grip on Yugi tightened.

"Pharaoh!" the hikari shouted, trying to hold onto his yami. A sharp cliff had suddenly materialized where a long stone passageway had previously been. Pieces of rock continued to slide down the sharp ravine, into the darkness below.

"Yugi!" he shouted back, trying to find footing against the uneven rock. He almost regained his balance, but a sudden blast of dark magic disintegrated the stone beneath his left foot. "Aibou, I can't find footing!"

"That looked like the Dark Magician's attack!" Yugi gasped, still trying to hold on to the pharaoh. His small hand was starting to slip.

The pharaoh's grip loosened, and he slid down his hikari's sleeve.

"Pharaoh!"

"I can't hold on, aibou!" he shouted, clinging desperately, and poorly, to the rock at his chest. "Can you pull me up?"

Yugi braced his feet, and tried to pull the pharaoh forward. However, the puzzle shook again, sending them both flying to the side.

"I can't…" he gasped, holding on to the pharaoh with one hand and a broken stone pillar with the other. "If this breaks… I'm falling down with you!"

"Aibou!" Yami Yugi gasped. Another blast of dark magic shook side of the newly formed cavern. "Then let me go! Save yourself!"

"Not a chance, yami!" Yugi shouted, grunting as he tried to pull himself closer to the stone pillar. "We'll figure this out some…"

The rock broke apart. Yugi clutched several stone fragments as he fell backward. But tiny pieces of grey stone couldn't stop the inevitable.

"Aibou!" Yami Yugi screamed, as the cold air struck his back. The rock spun around them as they plummeted towards the darkness. Yugi grabbed onto the pharaoh's sleeve, trying desperately not to let go. "Yugi!"

"I'm still here!" he shouted back. The darkness grew. He could no longer see his yami, nor his own outstretched hand.

"I can't see…" Yami Yugi began, but was cut off by a strong pair of hands wrapping themselves around his waist. "… you…"

The hands pulled them both into a cave. Stairs led out of the small grotto sideways, another piece of the puzzle falling out of place.

When Yugi felt his feet on solid stone, he collapsed to his knees. His legs could have turned to liquid for all he knew. He was simply glad they had stopped falling.

"Yami?"

"I'm here. It's going to be all right…" Yami Yugi cradled his hikari as a streak of bright light illuminated the dark cavern. The Dark Magician was standing over them.

"My pharaoh!" the monster bowed respectfully, before raising his wand in a defensive stance.

"What's going on in here?" Yami Yugi demanded. "What's happening to the millennium puzzle?"

"It's the spirit of the millennium ring, my liege." The Dark Magician answered.

Yugi looked up. What did Yami Bakura have to do with this? After the ritual Isis had told him about, the spirit wouldn't even exist!

"Mahado… the spirit of the millennium ring is dead." Yami Yugi attempted to protest, calling the duel monster by his former name. "I saw him with my own eyes. The thief king is lying broken and emaciated on his hikari's couch. If his mortal body isn't dead already, it will be by the time the moon rises!"

Yugi gulped. He could only imagine the sight that his yami had kept from him. And knowing Ryou, he was probably devastated, despite his desire to be free of his evil yami.

"Do you understand me?"

"Pharaoh, you are respectfully mistaken!" the Dark Magician inserted. "He is most certainly not dead."

"That is impossible!" Yami Yugi shouted. "I know what I saw! Isis performed the purification ritual!"

The Dark Magician pulled the pharaoh away from the opening of the cave as another series of boulders came tumbling down. They shattered into thousands of fragments on what was now the floor of the puzzle. Another crack of light burst through the side of the wall.

"I know the ritual, my pharaoh! I was the one who invented it!" the Dark Magician stated rather calmly.

"Yes… Yes, I had forgotten." Yami Yugi whispered back.

"And like any ritual, it has its limitations!" he added. "I created the purification ritual as a way to protect and serve you, my pharaoh. Through the millennium ring, I could seal the darkness of my soul, or any of the other priests' souls, into an amulet, and destroy it."

"You mean…"

"Yes… Through the ring, part of my soul would always remain protected from the devastating procedure, while at the same time, my ka would remain pure. Only then could I or the other priests faithfully protect you. Should a being of light be purified, they would remain unharmed."

Yami Yugi's face blanched.

"The ritual was designed to work with the ring, not against the ring!" The Dark Magician shouted. "I can only imagine what unexpected disaster has already come from such a misuse!"

Yugi glared up at his yami, who suddenly felt very guilty.

"I… I didn't remember…"

"But first, we must solve another problem, my pharaoh!"

Yami Yugi turned his complete attention to the spirit of his former priest. Yugi did as well.

"Given that the millennium items were tainted upon their creation, I knew that the ritual, in the hands of a darker magician, could possibly be rewritten, and then turned against me." He continued. "That is why I made it impossible for my soul to ever be devoured by it. If subjected to the proper spells, the ring would automatically project my soul into the safest vessel!"

"So that's why the tomb robber appeared in a human body!"

"Light without a physical form would be given one, pharaoh." He added. "I have created such life on several occasions. It was Mana who first suggested that use. Were she not killed by the tomb robber, she would have used it to create a child!"

"Then where did the spirit of the ring send…"

The pharaoh froze. Suddenly, everything made sense.

"Before the ritual could be completed… it was sent to the safest vessel." The Dark Magician repeated himself. "It was sent here!"

"Why my puzzle?" Yami Yugi gasped.

"A small piece of the thief king's soul has resided here for at least a year of your hikari's time. We have since tried to track it down, but just like the thief king of the ancient days, this sliver of darkness has eluded us in the darkness of the shadows."

"When Ryou gave me the piece of my puzzle… when it broke…" Yugi gasped. "That's the last time he was even close enough to touch the millennium puzzle!"

"He's been hiding here all this time?"

"Yes." The Dark Magician nodded. The puzzle spun around again, sending all three of them slamming into a new floor. Another crack of light, bigger and brighter than any of the others, slit straight through the wall behind them. "And now, combined with the rest of his soul, it's tearing this puzzle apart!"

"Mahado… Is there anything we can do?"

The Dark Magician shook his head.

"I have tried everything, my pharaoh. I thought I had him cornered, only to discover that it was you hanging from the top of that crevice, and not the tomb robber." He sighed. "My fellow guardians have covered this puzzle from one end to the other, unable to subdue his wicked spirit."

"Has there been death?"

"Much death, my pharaoh… much death…" he hung his head low, the purple robe falling sadly around his face. "And there will be much more should this puzzle shatter."

"Can we stop it from breaking?"

"Not from in here." Mahado shook his head weakly. "But the ring should draw the soul back once the danger has subsided!"

"It can do that?" Yami Yugi gasped. He knew the millennium ring could seal a soul into other objects, but not back upon itself.

"Only in the course of this ritual!" the Dark Magician emphasized. "In order to protect me from dark magic!"

"How does that work?"

"I know the spells well, my pharaoh. But we need a medium…" He added. "Does your young companion's priests know the proper incantations?"

Yugi looked at the duel monster with regret in his eyes.

"I don't think they do." He sighed. Isis and Malik were the closest people he could think of as priests, and they only discovered the ritual recently.

"Then pray that they discover it quickly, my young pharaoh." The Dark Magician added, bowing respectfully to Yugi. "Before the thief king tears this puzzle apart trying to break himself free!"

Again, the puzzle shook. This time, both Yugi and his yami, along with the Dark Magician, were thrown from the cave, and up the ravine they had previously fallen down.

"One of us must make it out of here!" they could still hear the Dark Magician shout, his composure firm despite the shift in direction. "If I could reach the young pharaoh's mortal body! Tell his priests!"

Yugi gulped. He no longer knew where they even were, yet alone how to get back. Neither did Yami Yugi, whose memories of these passageways had no doubt been shattered with the rocks themselves.

"We have to get back to my consciousness, pharaoh…" he whispered, falling harshly upon the stone.

"I know, aibou…" Yami Yugi added, trying to pick himself up again from the long tumble.

Yugi looked around. Nothing looked familiar anymore.

"Dark Magician, are you all right?"

The man in the purple robe nodded slightly.

"But where do we begin?" he finally asked.

"I… I don't know…"

"I guess we start by believing in our friends…" Yugi sighed. "And hoping they can figure out what to do if we can't reach them in time…"

"Have faith, aibou…" Yami Yugi put his arm around his hikari, and helped him to his feet.

"I do, Yami. I do." He replied cautiously. "It's just…"

"I know…" Yami Yugi whispered, mainly to himself. "We were so eager to squelch the darkness, we might have just smothered what was left of the light…"

And with that, all three spirits started climbing up a massive wall.


	10. New Discoveries

"I can't believe this is happening…" Malik paced across Ryou's living room. On one side of his vision, Yami Bakura's corpse remained on the couch, untouched by anyone except for Ryou. On the other, the unconscious body of Yami Yugi lay propped up against a wall. Isis sat with him, deep in meditation, hoping she could find an answer to the puzzle's sudden disruptions.

So far, she had found nothing.

"Malik…" Ryou finally interrupted the steady rhythm of his gait.

The tomb keeper looked up momentarily.

"I… I'm sorry about before…" he whispered, his eyes tracing lines in the carpet. "I shouldn't have yelled…"

"Forget that. It doesn't matter now." Malik answered abruptly, and returned to pacing. "All that matters is that we figure out a way to save the pharaoh, and possibly Yugi, before that puzzle shatters. We can go back to worrying about how to find the tomb robber's soul later!"

Ryou was stunned.

"What about my yami's soul?" he interjected, more forcefully this time.

Malik stopped, and turned around.

"While you were comforting the tomb robber, we were sitting in your game room, talking about Monster World." Malik attempted to explain. "And we realized that maybe… if he had already sealed a part of his soul in something else, a part of him could… but don't get your hopes too high… could still be alive."

Ryou's eyes expanded with unbridled anticipation. A large grin spun out of his somber scowl.

"You mean!"

"If part of his soul was sealed in something else, it couldn't have been cleansed in the ritual." Isis sighed, coming out of her meditation. "I did not know your yami possessed such a power. Your millennium ring is still alien to me."

"But where?"

"I don't know." She replied quickly. "But as my brother just said… that is not our main concern. He's getting worse."

Malik and Ryou knelt next to the pharaoh.

"The puzzle is starting to fall apart." She continued. "And judging from the body, both Yugi and his yami were somehow pulled inside of it."

"If it breaks while no one is in control of the body…"

"We may never get them back!" Isis answered, stroking the pharaoh's hair.

Ryou glanced down at the puzzle. With each beat of his heart, it pulsated, vibrating against the chain with an ugly dissonance. Large cracks ran through the gold, new fissures forming with every passing minute.

He reached out, and picked up the golden pyramid.

"I wish we could…"

He froze.

"Ryou?" Isis turned to him, concerned.

His left eye twitched, his hand stuck to the puzzle. Beams of white lightning ran through his fingers, visibly arching the hairs on his left arm.

"Ryou?" Malik shouted, trying to pull the puzzle from his hand.

The white haired teen's back arched, and he fell back with a dull thump. His hand, still twitching with static, fell to the side.

"Ryou!" Isis jumped up, abandoning the pharaoh momentarily to the wall. "Ryou, are you all right? What happened? The ring!"

There was no motion from Ryou. He appeared to be unconscious. But the points of the millennium ring had embedded themselves deep in Ryou's shirt, puncturing his chest.

Malik picked the boy up, and shook him gently. Thankfully, he was still breathing.

"Ryou?" Malik shouted, "Ryou, please. Wake up!"

Within a minute of his insistence, Ryou finally came to, much to the relief of the two tomb keepers.

"Ryou, what happened?" Malik asked quickly.

The young man tried to sit up, but suddenly found his chest constricting. He fell back down into Malik's open lap.

"I… I don't know… I just…" he felt his chest with the movable hand. "The ring! What's wrong with my ring?"

He looked up at Isis, frightened.

"I thought it was powerless! It only did this when…" Ryou blinked a couple of times. "When my yami was trying to take control… the puzzle!"

Ryou jumped forward, pulling his tired body to Yami Yugi's side.

"That's it!" he shouted, reaching for the millennium puzzle again. "He's in the puzzle!"

"What?"

"The piece of my yami's soul you didn't destroy! Malik was right!" Ryou shouted toward Isis in particular. "It has to be there! I… I could almost feel him!"

"That's impossible!" Isis tried to argue, but Ryou would have none of it.

"No, it is!" Malik agreed with his friend. "I think it is!"

"I know it is!" Ryou added. "It's like he was trying to tell me! The darkness never dies!"

He grabbed the puzzle again, this time with both hands. He closed his eyes, and let the waves of electricity course through his veins.


	11. Hiding in the Shadows

A weak Yami Bakura crawled under a stone arch. It might have previously been a ceiling, a stairwell, or possibly even a wall. He wasn't sure. He felt as though he had been wandering through this maze for six lifetimes, and nothing made any more sense.

It had been years since he sealed a small sliver of his soul in the puzzle. And it had remained safely unseen up until Ryou had agreed to the purification ritual.

He wasn't sure at what moment he woke up with his entire consciousness in the puzzle. The last thing Yami Bakura could remember was his body collapsing in the light seeping from underneath his soul room door. And he could still hear the Egyptian chant ringing in the back of his mind.

It was almost as terrifying as the footsteps of Yami Yugi's guardian spirits. He had lost the Dark Magician somewhere in the last cave-in. But he knew several others were still close by.

Taking a moment to breathe, he tried to silently gather his thoughts.

No, he could remember something after the ritual, although it was very faint. For a moment, he thought he was in Ryou's body, lying on Ryou's sofa. But perhaps that was merely his mind playing tricks on him. For a moment, he even thought he saw Ryou, placing a wet washcloth on his forehead. That too, he eventually reasoned, must have been a delusion.

Perhaps the ritual was still going on. Perhaps all of these actions were only taking place in his mind.

But if so, he tried to think, how did he end up in the millennium puzzle? And why did he feel so exhausted?

"Stop! Intruder!" a bright voice cut through the stone like a thief's knife. A blast of dark magic shattered the rock above his head.

Yami Bakura narrowly avoided being buried under the rubble as he leapt forward. At least it put a slight obstacle between himself and his pursuer.

"I have to get out of here!" he whispered to himself, trying to regain his feet as the puzzle shifted around again. His tired body fell back against the broken stone, almost burying him all over again. "I… I've got to get back to the ring…"

Another blast of dark magic echoed in a nearby corridor.

"He went this way! Hurry!"

Yami Bakura shook the pain from his head as he pulled himself up again. A crack of light appeared above him.

"I… I… I've got to keep… moving…" he groaned, crawling through the narrow tunnel. He knew they couldn't be far behind. The longer he ran, the less energy he had. Eventually, and it was only a matter of time, the pharaoh's spirits would find him. "I… can't… stop…"

Again the puzzle shook, sending Yami Bakura tumbling backwards into the same pile of rubble he had tried twice already to avoid. Rocks tumbled from the new ceiling, crashing down onto his unprotected body below.

"Ryou!" he screamed, if only out of instinct, as he tried to cover his head with his hands. The stone bricks kept falling, smashing down against his arms and back. The chanting grew louder in his head. "Ryou!"

When the smoke cleared, Yami Bakura realized that he was still in one piece. With any luck, the creatures pursuing him had been killed in the same avalanche. He also realized, unfortunately, that both of his legs were buried in the rocks.

"Oh Ra…" he groaned to himself. He lunged forward, grabbing onto the nearby stones with his free hands. But it was no use. "I… I can't get out…"

"I can feel him this way! Come on!" he heard a voice echo through a corridor below him, or perhaps it was now above him.

"… aibou…" he whispered. "Ra… don't let them find me!"

Another crack appeared on his left side. He reached for it, and it seemed to grow a little.

"If… if I could just get out…"

He fell back, exhausted on the rocks.

"Ryou…" he groaned. "I'll do anything… just… get me out of here…"

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang through his head.

"He's there!"

It sounded like Ryou! Yami Bakura jumped up, looking for his hikari, a living, breathing, desert oasis. But no one was there. He fell back down against the stones.

"I can feel him! Malik! I can feel him!"

He could hear the voice again, more clearly now.

"Ryou…" he whispered, still mindful of the creatures hunting him. "Ryou! Can you hear me?"

"He's in there!" Ryou answered. Yami Bakura couldn't discern if he had been heard or not. But the hikari continued as though he was talking to someone else. "I don't know… I don't know how to pull him out."

Yami Bakura fell back against the stones.

"Figure out a way… please…" he begged, all traces of his egotism gone for the moment. "Please… hurry…"


	12. Turning Points

"I can feel him! Malik! I can feel him!" Ryou shouted, ecstatic. In his hands, the puzzle had stopped vibrating for a moment. The visible cracks had stopped widening. "He's in there!"

"Are you sure?" Isis asked.

"Of course he's sure…" Malik answered for Ryou. "He'd know the other half of his own soul… the important question is… can you get him out of there?"

"I don't know… I don't know how to pull him out…" Ryou sighed. He let go of the puzzle. It started to shake again.

"Can the millennium ring do anything like that?" Malik asked.

"I don't know!" Ryou cried. "I don't know how to use it! I've only seen my yami use it!"

"What did he do?" Malik kept questioning the white haired boy, giving him no time at all to think.

"He used it to seal souls into objects. I… I don't know how he did it… he just did it…"

"Can you try it?"

Before Ryou could answer, Isis intervened.

"I don't think that would be wise, brother." She interrupted. "The ring was purified during the ritual, and to seal a soul is to use the power of the darkness!"

"I don't care!" Ryou shouted. "And you said yourself, if we sit here and do nothing, we may loose all the souls inside!"

"And Ryou, a soul needs a vessel! Even if you could capture the soul, where would you send it?"

"There's always the soulless body on the couch over there." Malik chirped in.

"We have to try!" Ryou shouted.

"Unless there's another part of the ritual that can be performed, something that can undo everything that's already been done, sister… I suggest we let Ryou try!" Malik finally put his foot down.

Isis stared down at the pharaoh's lifeless body, and then glanced at the form of Yami Bakura.

She drew a deep breath, and let out a long sigh. She couldn't hide the truth from them anymore. She wanted to, but the voices in her mind would not let the subject rest.

"The text on the ritual… it… it wasn't complete." She finally admitted.

"What?" Malik asked sharply.

"When the papyrus scrolls were excavated, part of the scroll… a large portion of the scroll… was damaged… it couldn't be read…" Isis sighed. "The purification ritual was complete… but there was something else there… I… I don't know what it said… but whatever it was… it might have helped…"

"You performed the ritual on me… without knowing if it was even complete!" Malik shouted, standing up abruptly. He glared at his sister with a wicked stare. Ryou simply watched aghast.

"It was complete enough to destroy the evil in your soul!" she countered. "I had to act!"

"You could have killed me!" he shouted back, clenching his fists in rage. "You killed Bakura's yami…and you might have just killed the pharaoh!"

"I had to destroy the darkness!"

"Sister… I… I don't see any darkness here!" Malik finally stuttered. "Except for what you just caused…"

"I…" Isis froze. She couldn't believe what her own brother was saying. "You would have let the tomb robber roam free?"

"I think I'm finally starting to agree with Ryou." Malik countered quickly.

"I had to do what I could to save the world!" she countered. "I rescued you from your dark side!"

"But at what cost, sister?" he cried.

She looked around the room again. Another crack spread down the puzzle, nearly cutting it in two.

"Could you make out any of the text? Do you know anything else about the purification ritual?" Ryou finally intervened. Time was running out.

"Just a few phrases…" Isis sighed. Tears had formed deep within her eyes, but she refused to let them show.

"Tell us." Malik demanded. "Now."

"That the spells would not work on the creator of the ritual…" Isis sighed. "That's all! I swear on the Western Kingdom."

Malik sighed. That wasn't helpful. The room fell silent again.

"I… I'm… sorry…" Isis finally broke the uneasy calm. "I…"

"Like I told Ryou… We don't have time for that now!" Malik silenced her. "We have to try something, anything, or this puzzle is going to burst!"

He turned to Ryou, who had since been pulling the spikes of the millennium ring out of his chest. The boy gave a pained expression as he freed the last gold dagger from his skin. Blood ran freely from the open wounds.

"Ryou, I know you haven't done this before, but I want you to concentrate." Malik instructed. He knew how to work the millennium rod. He only hoped the ring functioned in a similar manner. "Concentrate all your energy on the soul trapped inside the puzzle. Picture yourself drawing it out, and then putting it in something else."

Ryou nodded meekly.

"I… I'll try…" he whispered, clutching the ring. The blood on the gold was sticky in the evening heat. "I'll draw him out… and put him in Yami Bakura's body… for now…"

Malik nodded. It sounded like a good plan. Isis sat silently with the pharaoh, guilt chipping away at the inside of her heart.

"Please hurry…" she finally whispered. "I don't want to lose the pharaoh… or anyone else."

"I'll try my best…" Ryou smiled weakly, and held the ring next to the puzzle. He closed his eyes. The puzzle calmed its quaking when the millennium ring was brought near.

"Look for him. Can you see him?" Malik asked.

"No… not yet."

"Take your time."

"I am… I don't know where to look…" Ryou sighed. "But I feel him there… somewhere…"


	13. The Light of Dark Magic

The abrupt stop of the millennium puzzle's rattling caught Yami Yugi and his climbing companions by surprise. They had just reached another ledge, ready for any sudden change in direction. But this time, there wasn't one.

"I'm not sure whether to be thankful or worried, Yami…" Yugi broke the silence first.

"Me neither, aibou." Yami Yugi replied.

Suddenly, the Dark Magician looked to the side, as if something had suddenly changed.

"My pharaoh… do you feel that?" he whispered, careful not to move or disturb the sudden change in the puzzle's activity.

Yami Yugi looked up, and so did Yugi.

"I feel something." the pharaoh answered. "But I'm not certain what it is."

"I feel it too." Yugi answered.

"The millennium items are creating a kind of resonance." Dark Magician answered.

"Is it Isis?" Yami Yugi asked.

"No… it feels like the millennium ring!" the duel monster gasped. "I'd know that feeling anywhere."

"The millennium ring?" Yugi repeated, mystified. "But if Bakura's yami is trapped in here somewhere…"

"Ryou must be trying to activate it." Yami Yugi finished his hikari's sentence.

"He's trying to draw the soul from the puzzle."

"That's great." Yami Yugi smiled.

"No. It's not." Dark Magician quickly countered.

"I thought you said that if the spirit wasn't subdued, that the puzzle would break, and destroy us all! How can this…"

"The priest you call Ryou hasn't invoked the sacred spells of the ritual." The Dark Magician answered quickly. "He doesn't know what he's doing…"

Yugi sighed. He doubted Ryou even knew the first thing about his millennium item.

"He at least knows it can seal a soul into anything." Yami Yugi announced. "He's watched his yami do it on many occasions. That has to be what he's trying to do!"

"But what can he seal it into?"

"The tomb robber's new mortal body!" Yami Yugi shouted. "Of course!"

"He wouldn't survive that… not given how you described his condition…" The Dark Magician muttered under his breath. From the tone of his voice, it appeared to Yugi that the guardian was actually concerned.

"No… he wouldn't."

"But Ryou probably doesn't see any other choice." Yugi added.

"Then time is of the essence." Dark Magician continued, and turned sharply around. He started climbing along the side of the stone wall instead of towards the top.

"Wait! Mahado! Where are you going?" Yami Yugi shouted.

"The spirit of the millennium ring is nearby! I can feel him! He's stopped moving!" he answered without stopping.

"But I thought we…"

"This is of more importance." Dark Magician interrupted him.

"Why?" Yugi eventually asked.

"Because young pharaoh…" the spirit stopped for a brief moment. A warm glow fell over Yugi's heart. "There has already been enough death today. I do not wish to endure more."

They nodded, and continued up the rocks.

"Yami?"

"Yes, aibou?" the pharaoh replied.

"He must have been a good priest."

"And a good friend." Yami Yugi smiled.


	14. The Darkness of Light

"Can you see him yet?" Malik clasped his hands impatiently. Beads of sweat trickled down his bangs, and collected on his purple shirt.

"No… but I think I'm getting closer." Ryou answered. He could feel the ring vibrate in his hands whenever he passed over a certain part of the puzzle, as if it was calling to its master.

"You can do it, Ryou. I know you can."

Isis had since excused herself from the room. The day's events were all too much for her to bear in the presence of her brother and Ryou. Instead, she sat in Ryou's gaming room, twirling the White Wizard Bakura figurine in her fingers.

"Oh, Ra…" she sighed. "I really made a mess of things…"

She sat the figure down neatly on the game board. As it hit the square, the castle diorama fell apart, revealing Zorc's throne room.

"I thought I was helping… I really thought I was helping…" she whispered. A tear silently escaped down her cheek, and into Zorc's castle.

Isis scolded herself briefly, and tried to wipe it away. A little of the paint smudged. Ryou must have put on a fresh coat the day before.

"I thought I could do so much good…" she sighed. "After banishing the evil spirit within my brother, I felt…"

She couldn't quite think of the right words.

"I guess I thought I could save everyone…" she finally spoke, again to no one in particular. "And I thought the purification ritual he found could be the perfect tool to accomplish that goal…"

She picked up the White Wizard again. It smiled back at her with a peaceful grin that so resembled Ryou's.

"I… I never stopped to think…" she continued. "I never thought of what might happen if something went wrong… or if the ritual didn't work… or…"

She sat the figurine down, and picked up one that resembled Yugi.

"For all I know, the ritual might have been created as a tool for destruction, maybe it was made for selfish gain…" Isis sighed. "I just don't know…"

She stared at Yugi's figurine for a few minutes. It looked so innocent, and yet, so pained at the same time.

"I warned Malik so many times about not using the powers of the rod that he was unable to understand. And I simply ignored those lessons." Another tear escaped the prison of her dark eyelids.

She stood up, and started pacing around the room.

"What I did was just as dark as what I was trying to expel…" she sighed. "Which is a worse enemy… Doesn't ignorance beget evil? When one is no longer ignorant… do they not dispel their own evil?"

She thought about the pharaoh's temptations by the Seal of Oricalkos. Through suffering horrible defeat and the loss of his hikari's soul, he was able to conquer the darkness within him, all by himself. He needed no ritual to save him from the darkness within. He was strong enough on his own.

And Malik… It was through the pharaoh's guidance that his dark side disappeared. The ritual may have been a worthless endeavor. If the dark spirit returns, it would be because the feelings of hatred and regret inside her brother's soul were still burning brightly. It was his day-to-day struggle with his past that kept the spirit at bay, not an ancient incantation.

She paused.

"But what of the tomb robber?" she sighed aloud.

She had described him as a being without conscience, a wicked spirit seeking retribution. And all the while, Ryou still thought differently.

"Had I been so quick to judge that I missed something?" she whispered, pacing around the game board that Ryou had constructed. "Could he have been right all along?"

The tomb robber, after all, was only acting on a vengeance that he considered justified. She had read his story from several Egyptian scrolls. His entire village was slaughtered while he was but a child, just to produce the seven millennium items. Surely the pain inside his soul was demanding. Perhaps, over time, it was just too demanding to bear.

"Could I really be as dark as what I tried to destroy?" Isis asked herself. "Could I really be as twisted in my own mind as Dartz? Or as the tomb robber?"

She thought of his body, the strange product of the purification ritual, twisted and contorted on Ryou's couch. His flesh hanging loosely over brittle bones, he was nothing but a hollow shell of a human being. Starved to the brink of death, and brought back only long enough so that he could die a more tragic death a few hours later.

It was enough to wrench her heart out, and cast it into the shadow realm.

"I have done so much wrong…" she finally collapsed to her knees. For the first time, her tears flowed freely. "So much wrong… to so many people… I… have failed as a tomb keeper… I… I let the darkness overcome me…"


	15. Dark Magicians Sacrifice

"I can still feel him!"

The voice rang out over his head again. Yami Bakura, motionless against the rock, prayed that his hikari would somehow find him before one of the pharaoh's guardians did. He wasn't sure exactly what Ryou intended to do, but anything would be better than death at their hands.

"I sense the tomb robber nearby."

Another voice rang from behind the stone wall. It wasn't Ryou's.

"Yes, Mahado." The more feminine voice answered. "He must have been trapped by the crumbling rocks, just as the Celtic Guardian was. He is right through that passageway."

There was a short pause.

"Shall we attack now?"

Yami Bakura froze.

This was it. He closed his eyes, and let his body fall limp upon the crumbled stone. This was where millennia of scheming had brought him - A death far more painful than when he was first sealed into the millennium ring, at the hands of the pharaoh's guardians, inside the trinket he most wanted to steal. That is, if the ritual hadn't already killed him, and this was just his own imagination playing wicked shadow games with him.

"I've almost got him…" Ryou's voice quivered. "I think…"

"No." the male pursuer's voice softly added. For a moment, Yami Bakura smiled at the fate the gods had dealt. "That is no longer necessary, Mana. I shall finish this myself."

"As you wish." The other voice responded. And again, his heart fell to the bottom of his lacerated chest.

"See to the pharaoh and his smaller companion." Mahado ordered. "Help them find their way through the depths of the puzzle."

"Right away." She responded.

Yami Bakura could hear her footsteps as she ran farther away. And he could hear the solid pounding of purple boots against uneven stone. A dark magic blast burst through the ceiling above him, sending another shower of stone pellets onto the passageway below.

"Tomb robber!" the Dark Magician announced, jumping through the hole he had just created. He landed in an offensive stance, and pointed his long wand at the intruder. "At last, we meet again!"

Yami Bakura refused to look his captor in the face.

"You fought me once, and killed me." The purple-robed wizard announced forcefully. "Or do you not remember?"

Again, Yami Bakura refused to acknowledge him. Both of them could feel the presence of the millennium ring hovering nearby.

"Or are you merely hoping that the priest who took my place could protect you?"

"I don't know what you're getting at, magician." Yami Bakura finally sneered.

"Oh don't you? It was you who stole the millennium ring from me!"

Yami Bakura clenched his fists.

"If you're going to blast me. Do it now."

"And I am the one who created the ritual of purification!"

"Stop bragging!" Yami Bakura shouted, slamming his right fist onto a nearby stone. It crumbled under his anger. "If you're going to kill me, get it over with already!"

"I… I found him!"

The tomb robber gasped. Could Ryou get to him before the guardian? Could he even work the ring?

"Ryou…"

"I can hear him! He's calling my name!" the voice was more certain this time.

"Yes!" Yami Bakura's eyes lit up with hope. "Ryou! I'm right here! Ryou!"

He struggled to sit up, arching his back as far as he could manage.

"Not this time." The Dark Magician whispered, and pointed his wand at the unsteady pile of rubble on top of the tomb robber. "You may not believe this… but I'm doing this for your own good."

Yami Bakura didn't have time to react before the dark magic blast struck the rocks. An uncontrollable avalanche of stone slid down the makeshift hillside, literally covering the tomb robber in its wake.

"Ryou!" he cried, just as his face was completely buried in the dust.

"He must take me instead…" the Dark Magician let out a deep breath, and climbed to the top of the rubble.

"I've got him!"

The Dark Magician stood, his body completely enveloped in the aura of the millennium ring. The faint gold light surrounded him, and penetrated him, breaking his spiritual body into a fine white mist. He closed what was left of his eyes, and waited to awaken in a new form, all the while praying to Ra that his sacrifice would not have been in vain.


	16. And end to the Destruction

"I've got him!" Ryou shouted, eagerly clutching the millennium ring. "Malik! I've got him! I can feel the ring pulling his soul!"

"Don't lose your concentration." Malik sternly advised, crossing his fingers and whispering a prayer of his own. "Keep focused!"

Ryou nodded, and started to pull away from the puzzle.

"Focus the energy into the new body… into his new form." Malik continued. "Hold it steady."

Ryou closed his eyes. Through the ring, he could feel the spirit lifting out of the puzzle. Its gaseous form encircled him briefly, and then continued on to the lifeless body on the couch. A small jolt of electricity signaled to Ryou that the soul had left the ring.

"I think it's gone!" he announced quickly, opening his eyes.

He scampered over to the couch, and reached towards his yami.

"Did it work?" Malik asked, still looking at the unconscious pharaoh for any change in his condition.

"I don't know…" Ryou whispered. "He doesn't feel any… wait!"

After a few seconds, a faint pulse could be felt on the tomb robber's neck. Another moment later, and the deceased figure gasped for its first breath in two hours.

"It worked! Malik! It worked!" he squealed, letting the ring fall against his chest. "I did it! It worked!"

Malik looked at the tomb robber. Indeed, the figure on the couch had started to breathe. In the distance, he could even see the man's eyelids fluttering. He might even be approaching consciousness. But something was still wrong with the pharaoh, and with his millennium puzzle.

When Ryou moved away, the puzzle started to vibrate again. And the shaking was only growing worse. Another new crack broke through the left side of the golden pyramid. It was so large, that Malik feared that it would break through entirely.

"No… something went wrong…" he spoke in a dead whisper. "You must have gotten something else."

Ryou turned quickly back to the figure of his yami.

"Yami? Yami, is that you?"

The prostrate tomb robber coughed, gagging for a breath that was not laced with blood. His face turned quite pale.

"Yami?"

"Priest…" the man gasped. "Priest of the ring… come… cl…closer…"

Malik froze. Ryou had managed to pull a soul from the millennium puzzle, but it didn't belong to the tomb robber or the pharaoh. It belonged to someone, or perhaps something, else entirely.

"Isis!" he shouted, not knowing what else to do. "Isis!"

He looked around desperately for his sister. It only took her a moment to emerge from the game room, still wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What is it, brother?" she attempted to control the sadness in her voice, but to little avail.

"Priest…" the unknown entity whispered again. Ryou looked around, and moved in closer.

"There's something inside the tomb robber's body." Malik whispered.

Isis simply stood there beside him, neither of them knowing exactly what to do.

"Who… who are you?" Ryou asked cautiously, trying to keep as much distance between him and the unknown spirit as possible without causing any alarm. "What do you want with my yami?"

"Priest… I… am… the first… keeper of the ring…" he spoke.

Isis gasped. It was another spirit from the pharaoh's ancient past.

"I… invented the ritual… of…" he coughed again. He tried to turn his head, but blood still trickled down the back of his throat. "Pur… purific…ation…"

Ryou's eyes widened. He suddenly found his courage and his voice.

"What's going on? What happened to my yami? Is he really in the puzzle? How do I get him out? Is he okay? What are you doing here?"

"Ryou, give him time to talk!" Malik interrupted the white haired teen's endless list of questions. "In that body, he probably has less time than the tomb robber did!"

Isis nodded in agreement.

"His soul is strong, but that body is extremely weak." She finally added.

Ryou quieted his outburst.

"Yes… not much time… to… to set things… set things right…" the former temple priest whispered. He struggled to breathe. "You must… hurry…"

"What do I need to do?" Ryou asked, and a deathly hush befell over the room.

"You… are stronger…" he gasped, quickly studying the situation at hand. "Point… the ring… at the puzzle… and repeat… exactly… what I say…"

Ryou did as he was told, and the spirit started to speak in an old dialect of Egyptian. It was similar to the incantations that Isis and Malik had spoken earlier.

"It's the other part of the ritual…" Malik whispered to his sister. She simply bowed her head in acknowledgement of her own misdeeds.

Ryou started repeating the priest's spirit, word for word.

At first nothing happened.

The priest in Yami Bakura's body kept speaking, his voice ebbing and flowing with what remained of his life in that strange wounded frame. Ryou kept speaking as well, never losing his focus.

Suddenly, a bright light started to engulf the ring.

"Isis… something's happening!" Malik gasped, grabbing his sister for support. She did the same, watching as the light continued to spread.

Soon, it had engulfed the puzzle as well.

The priest continued to chant, and so did Ryou.

Isis stared as the puzzle stopped shaking. It's tremors calmed to steady vibrations, eventually settling like sand at the bottom of an ending hourglass.

The chanting continued.

Ryou could feel the power of the ring spreading through his fingers, up his spine, and out of each word he spoke. It resonated with a dull hum, and shivered with a low heat.

The priest grew quiet, but Ryou found that he could not stop chanting. No matter how much he willed himself to cease, the words kept flowing, as if from the ring itself.

"I think it's working…" Malik gasped.

"Yes… I think so, brother." Isis agreed, and felt the pharaoh's forehead. It was growing warmer to the touch.

Suddenly, Ryou stopped. The room quieted again. Nobody dared utter a single sound, not even a breath.

"Did… did it work?" Malik finally cut through the tension.

"I… don't… Spirit?" Ryou turned to the man on the couch. He was unconscious. Ryou rose to his knees, and felt for a pulse. There was nothing there. "Spirit?"

The former holder of the millennium ring was dead, just as he was before.

"Ryou?" Malik whispered, trying to hold back his fear.

The white haired teen picked up the ring. It was warm to the touch. It felt, as best as Ryou could describe it, normal again.

"Ryou?"

"He… he's back…" Ryou smiled. "He's there in the ring."

Malik crawled closer. He looked at the emaciated figure on the couch. Its flesh was starting to disintegrate into fine grains of white sand. As the skeleton underneath met with the hot air of the apartment, it too started to break apart.

"Are you sure?"

Ryou nodded, and hugged the ring tightly to his chest.

"Yes. I'm sure." He stated calmly. "He's exhausted. He's been wounded. But given everything that's happened, I'd say he's all right."

Isis sighed with relief, a strange feeling directed towards the spirit she had despised so much.

"But what about the pharaoh?" Malik whispered.

"I…" Ryou couldn't speak. He feared the worst, until he glanced over at the body of Yami Yugi, and saw his hand twitch. "He's awake!"

Malik and Isis quickly turned around.

"Oh pharaoh!" Isis shouted, offering support for him to lean on as he pulled himself to a seated position beside the wall. "Are you all right?"

"I am now." He sighed. "Thanks to the Dark Magician."

Exhausted, he leaned back against the white wall. His chest still hurt.

"The Dark Magician?" Malik questioned.

"He found Yugi and myself. But he left us to go after the tomb robber." Yami Yugi replied with a faint smile. "From the look on Ryou's face, I guess he succeeded in reaching my consciousness."

"Kind of…" Malik answered, not wanting to burden the pharaoh any more in one day.

Ryou, however, could not do him any such courtesy.

"Pharaoh…" he began, his voice almost non-existent. "I… I pulled him from the puzzle with the millennium ring…"

Yami Yugi nodded.

"I sealed him in the body of my yami… that we found in the alley… And… while he was helping reverse the ritual… he…" Ryou froze. He didn't want to continue. "He… he died…"

Ryou gestured with his eyes to the couch. All that was left of the tomb robber's temporary body was a pile of white sand, scraps of blue fabric, and various bloodstains.

"I'm sorry, pharaoh." He bowed his head.

"Don't worry, Ryou…" Yami Yugi smiled. "He is not dead."

Ryou looked up, surprised. The pharaoh just held up his millennium puzzle.

"He is in here."

"But how?" Ryou whispered, still holding his own millennium item tightly.

"He explained the nature of the ritual while we were still trapped within the puzzle." Yami Yugi smiled. "It cannot harm him, nor any other bearer of the ring. Thus, he could not be destroyed by it."

"You mean…"

"He is safe. As is your yami."

Malik and Isis both smiled in relief. After everything that happened, it was finally over. They had come so close to losing people they cared about.

Ryou brushed another tear from his face. This time, however, it was one of joy, not sadness. He tried to speak, but choked on the words.

"Thank you." Ryou finally whispered, when he found his voice again.

Isis and Malik looked at each other, and then back at the owner of the millennium ring.

"No, Ryou…" Malik began slowly. "We should be thanking you…"

"You were right all along." Isis sighed, placing her arms around her brother and the pharaoh. "Death, even of a wicked soul, is still death. And destruction of darkness is no more justified than destruction for the sake of darkness. I was wrong to attempt such a dangerous ritual… and it is a lesson I will not soon forget."

"Neither will I." Malik smiled as well.

"Perhaps it is a lesson that the tomb robber will learn as well. And perhaps, it is a lesson that…" Yami Yugi eventually added. "…I too need to be reminded of. I am sorry for convincing you to go through the purification spell. It only brought more tragedy."

Ryou blushed.

"It's all right, pharaoh." He smiled back. "You were only trying to help mankind. I know…"

"I am lucky to call you friend." He cut the hikari off. Ryou squeezed the ring between his fingers and blushed. "And fate is lucky to have given you the millennium ring."

Ryou sat on the floor as he watched the three other millennium item holders stand up. Isis supported Yami Yugi until he regained his sense of balance. They turned to leave the apartment.

"I won't let anything like that happen again, pharaoh. I promise." Ryou added, just as they reached the door.

Yami Yugi turned back around for a brief moment. He stared at Ryou and smiled.

"As long as you follow your heart, I'm sure it won't."

And the door closed behind them, leaving Ryou Bakura to ponder the mysteries of the millennium ring, and the goodness that resided within both halves of his soul.


End file.
